Rochester’s Pathways to Peace program

By Globe Staff

Pathways to Peace is a street-level outreach team that establishes a rapport with Rochester, New York’s violent youth and gangs, assesses their needs and situation, and then links them to resources to prevent youth and gang violence. Pathways uses both traditional and non-traditional intervention and is deemed necessary for the survival of our youth.

Pathways to Peace was created in 1998 is to reduce youth/gang violence in Rochester by working closely with all available community resources, including schools, families, law enforcement, human service agencies and faith-based organizations to improve overall public safety and quality of life.

Other services of Pathways to Peace include dispute mediation; professional, youth and community training/ education; gang mapping/tracking; and youth violence/gang consultation.

Pathways to Peace measures the number of youth referred for services, youth linked to resources, and recidivism of violence. There are other demographic data that are collected, but the main measure of Pathways to Peace is the number of youth served and the reduction of youth violence.

A portion of the Mayor’s Office budget finances Pathways to Peace. Pathways also receives Weed and Seed and Local Law Enforcement Block Grant funding to support a position and special programs.

Pathways to Peace is a bridge between violent and gang youth and community resources. Staff members link youth to those resources. Some participating agencies are the Urban League of Rochester, Center for Dispute Settlement, Center for Youth Services and many others.

Pathways works with local law enforcement, especially school resource officers, to identify gang and violent youth. It also works with the probation department to make sure youth have adequate support to successfully follow through with intervention plans.

Community-based organizations and businesses provide the services and opportunities for clients. The community gets involved by referring youth to Pathways to Peace. (The program accepts referrals from anyone.) Agencies and community members also participate in trainings facilitated by Pathways.

Major lessons learned from Pathways to Peace are to not overextend team members and take on responsibilities that compromise the quality of the service provided. New and nontraditional programs and ideas are not immediately accepted or appreciated by everyone, so it is important to focus on the mission, be patient and allow good works to validate a program’s existence.

Frequent training is very important because crime and gang trends change quickly, and it is important to be aware of those changes so the appropriate program adjustments can be made. Free and open communication is important, especially between a program such as Pathways and the police.

It is necessary to understand that suppression and intervention are very different, and both need to respect the other. When both approaches learn to appreciate each other, they compliment one another very well. This is when creative strategies are able to be implemented and work effectively.

Originally published Aug. 6-12, 2008